Our Eternity Begins
by Dolphingirl32173
Summary: Sequel to Setting Things Right. Elena is now a newborn vampire, having sacrificed her humanity to save Damon on Founder's Day. It is time for Fate's second test of her, it's first test of Damon. It is time to make a choice on what to do about Ripper Stefan and follow through. Damon/Elena
1. Awakening

Our Eternity Begins  
DG32173

Sarah: I told you guys that there would be more to come after the end of _Setting Things Right_ and _The Woman I Love._ Here's proof for you. In fact, I started working on _this_ set of stories around the time I was _supposed_ to be working on Chapter 14, what the site calls Chapter 15, of those two stories, the chapter in both stories labeled _Miss Mystic Falls_. But I'm not _posting_ it until _Setting Things Right_ and _The Woman I Love_ are complete. Hope you enjoy the continuation of that storyline. Picks up just hours after where I intend to leave off in _Setting Things Right._

_**CREDIT**_  
Credit goes once more to my beta _crzykittyfangirl_ for helping me make my stories the best they can be. Thanks so much.

_**DISCLAIMER**_  
I know I did this a bunch of times last story but I still have to put at least _one_ disclaimer in every story. So here's this disclaimer: I own what I write. I own the eternal mates thing I made up for my TVD fanfics. I own the prophecy that Damon and Elena are going to fulfill. I own the powers I will give them in the beginning of this fanfic. If I own it, I will claim it before the chapter it appears in. If my beta or a reviewer inspires its creation, I will post a credit section like the above giving credit for it. TVD and the cast are own by L.J. Smith. Mystic Falls and the settings are owned by the scriptwriters of the CW. Everything else you recognize is owned by someone else.

_**WARNINGS**_  
As per usual, this story is rated M for mature content. You will be getting more of my delicious smut you all seem to crave. But there will also be other, darker topics at play within this story as well, hence the drama label as well as romance. A good portion of this story, maybe even the entire story, will deal in Damon and Elena retraining Stefan and his inner vampire so that he's no longer a Ripper. And that will be a long, grisly affair. You have been warned.

_**SUMMARY**_  
Sequel to _Setting Things Right._ Elena is now a newborn vampire, having sacrificed her humanity to save Damon on Founder's Day. It is time for Fate's second test of her, it's first test of Damon. It is time to make a choice on what to do about Ripper Stefan and follow through. _**Damon/Elena**_

_**REVIEW REPLIES TO LAST CHAPTERS OF SETTING THINGS RIGHT**_

_Leann Nickerson:_ so glad you enjoyed _Setting Things Right_ and how it ended. Here's the next story and what happens when Elena wakes up from death.

_HoneySexy:_ Glad you enjoyed it. Here's the first chapter of the next in the series.

* * *

Chapter 1  
Awakening

Being dead while waiting for my transition into vampirism is _boring._ Probably the most boring part of the whole process, though my actual death was the most painful. I'm trapped in what seems like an endless and eternal darkness. I know Damon's blood has to heal my body before it wakes me up in transition. After we discovered the scar he left me with was indeed his eternal mates mark, he had explained multiple times the process behind becoming a vampire. The more badly injured a vampire-to-be is in what causes their death, the longer it takes the vampire blood in them to heal their body before waking them up.

Considering how badly injured I was when I jumped between the stake in John's hand and Damon, I know it will be a while before I'm awakened. Finally, _finally,_ I see a soft glow in the distance and start making my ways towards it. As I walk through the darkness, my life plays before me, including the six months of memories I _should not_ have. I don't stop, I don't hesitate. Damon's waiting for me. I saved him. I prevented my ultimate loss from happening again. I know instinctively my nightmare will never bother me again.

Finally, I'm on the other side of the light, which had gone from a soft glow in the far distance to what seems like a heavenly light source. I can hear Damon on the other side, telling me to wake up already. If he hadn't figured out what I'd been hiding from him with my last words, he'll have questions. But he's smart. He'll have figured it out at last; I'm sure of it.

I leap into the light and find myself gasping as I sit up in our bed. There he is, laying next to me, even more beautiful to my new vampire eyes than he was to my human eyes. "Damon," I breathe joyously, still amazed that I had _actually_ saved the love of my existence.

He gives me a scowl and I _know_ that _he_ figured out what I had been hiding the past three months. Even sensing how upset he is by it, I can't keep my sheer unrestrained joy at seeing him next to me, _alive,_ from him. Finally he sighs and gives me a wry smirk, knowing that I have to have my moment to process that I had _succeeded_ in my mission from Fate.

After a few minutes, I finally calm down, finally accepting that it's _real._ It's _not_ a dream. Damon lived through Founder's Day thanks to my efforts. Sure, I had to pay an equivalent price, as Gemma had said I would in her message to us in Emily's Grimoire. But we're both still alive, in a sense. Neither of us had died a final death last night.

That's when Damon speaks. "You, young lady, are in trouble," he says.

"I couldn't let you die," I retort. "At least I was able to come back. You wouldn't have."

Damon sighs and lets me have that win because we _both_ know it's true. He _wouldn't_ have come back from a stake to the heart. Then he surprises me by pulling me into his arms and whispering those three precious little words that I had been waiting to hear for two and a half months into my hair: "I love you."

Joy almost on par with what I had felt upon waking up from death and seeing him _alive_ radiates through me and through our empathy link. I was beginning to think he would _never_ say those words to me, no matter how much I knew they were true. I wrap my arms around him in return. "I love you, too," I breathe into his shirt.

We hold each other for a while, basking in the joy of being able to hold each other. Finally, he pulls away with a sigh. I can sense his reluctance to even speak whatever is on his mind but he has never let that stop him before. "Judgy's downstairs," he says. "She has a ring she's willing to enchant for you." I look at Damon for a long, silent moment, struggling within myself. I know Damon _feels_ how angry I am with Bonnie and how reluctant I am of going near her right now for fear of killing her in a fit of rage. Despite everything she did, everything that could have been avoided if she had been a better friend, I still value my lifelong friendship with her. This is the biggest betrayal she's ever enacted towards me, but by no means the first. I feel his shock and a brief moment of regret before he hisses between grit teeth, having come to a decision. "I won't let you kill her," he tells me, and I can tell he's making it a vow.

I relax, knowing he would never _willingly_ break a vow he's made, no matter who it's to. He'd be even _less_ willing to break a vow to me. So I know he'll keep me from going after Bonnie in my anger. "Then let's go," I say, pulling out of his arms.

"I want that ring enchanted and on your finger _before_ you finish the transition into vampirism," he tells me as we climb off the bed.

I look down contemplatively at my clothes, noticing I'm still wearing the torn and bloody shirt and blood-soaked jeans I was wearing when I died. I debate whether I should go downstairs like this, rub Bonnie's nose in the fact that I'm now _technically_ dead because of her, or if I should change. Damon senses my debate and lets me feel his curiosity as to the subject of it. "I'm debating whether I should keep the reminder that I'm now _technically_ dead because of her or change clothes before heading downstairs," I reply to his curiosity.

I look up in time to see the wicked smirk spread across his lips. "Keep it on," he encourages. "If that's all the revenge your pesky sentimentalities will let us have, the least you could do is shove it in her face that you're now a vampire because _she_ wasn't a good friend to you."

I decide that's fair. I nod my agreement. "Alright," I say, heading for the door to our room.

Damon follows behind me as I head downstairs. Thanks to my newly enhanced senses, I can see Bonnie's cringe from the foot of the stairs when she sees the ruined outfit I'm still wearing. She knows me well enough to know that this is the first of many times I'm going to rub her nose in the fact that I'm now a _vampire_ because she refused to accept my relationship with Damon. I will one day forgive her, as I have many times in the past, but first, as with all the previous times she had betrayed me, I will make damn sure that she'll never forget what she put me through with this betrayal. And this is the worst of any of the many betrayals she's committed against me during our seventeen years as friends. _This_ betrayal has _eternal_ consequences.

I sense Damon's amusement and know he saw Bonnie's cringe as well and also sense his struggle to keep from further rubbing Bonnie's nose in what her actions did. He's going to let me have my show. I'm guessing he had his turn while I was still in the dead phase of transition.

I wait a moment, letting Bonnie squirm beneath my predatory gaze. "As you can see, I'm now back from the _dead,_ Bonnie," I tell her finally. She opens her mouth to say something but I cut her off. "I warned you the other night when you faked de-spelling the device that if anything happened to Damon or Stefan, I would never forgive you. You better be _damned_ grateful I managed to get between the stake in John's hand and Damon at the last second or I'd have killed myself with Damon's blood in my system immediately after Damon's death. Then I would have completed the transition just so I could enact my revenge on you, John, and Isobel. After I had killed all three of you for taking my mate from me, I would have found a nice sunny place and allowed myself to burn to death so I could be reunited with him in true death. That Damon survived is the _only_ reason I'm not trying to kill you right now. As it is, it will be a _very_ long time before you earn my good graces back. You've betrayed me in the past in many different ways. Each time, you had to re-earn my friendship. And you know as well as I do that combining _all_ those times of betrayal would _still_ have _nothing_ on this act of betrayal. I _died,_ Bonnie. I _died_ because you couldn't accept that Grams _knew_ she would die if she went through with the spell to lift the seal on the tomb.

"Now I stand before you, in transition to becoming a vampire because of _you._ I would have rather waited another four or five years, waited until I looked less like Katherine, before reaching this point. Now, _because of you,_ I will have all of _her_ enemies after me for the rest of eternity. Because of some information Damon and I have been given, I know Damon and I will be able to defend me from them. But we will _still_ have to fight them off for however long it takes other vampires to start recognizing the differences between Katherine and I. The _only_ reason I'm even willing to talk to you right now is because Damon said you have a ring you're willing to enchant for me to protect me from the sun. Otherwise, I'd be avoiding you like the plague. And if you think a simple _apology_ would even start to soothe my ire, know this: I lived the past three months _twice._ And after the events of Founder's Day in the first timeline, I had _continued_ to live, if that's what it could be called, for _three more months._ Three _months_ where I _wanted_ to die more than anything in the world. Three _months_ without my other half. _Three damn months_ _of existing as half a soul!_ Because, Bonnie, you see when Damon died in the other timeline, _half my soul died, too!_ I couldn't bear to live. But I also couldn't bear to die because I didn't know if I'd go to where he was in death. And you want to know the biggest irony of this whole damned thing?" I ask rhetorically. I don't let anyone have a chance to answer that. "The biggest irony, Bonnie, is that in the other timeline, _you_ were the one to send me back to right the wrong you had committed and yet you nearly committed it again!"

I feel Damon's surprise at that and I can see from Bonnie's expression that my words are a hard pill to swallow. Before I can continue, however, Damon rests a hand on my shoulder. "Elena," he says too softly for Bonnie to hear, a clear warning in his voice. I know him so well that I know what his warning is: 'Don't continue right now, Elena. You just dropped a big enough bombshell that _everyone_ needs time to absorb it before you go dropping more.'

"Fine," I mutter at a volume only he and Stefan can hear. I refocus on Bonnie. "Damon won't let me continue further right now," I tell her. I can see the relief in her eyes. "So what do I need to do so that you can enchant the ring you brought for me?"

Bonnie takes a shaky breath before going to stand on one side of a window. "Stand across from me," she says. I obey. Bonnie pulls the ring I gave Grams one week after I first found out about vampires out of her pocket and places it in the patch of sunlight between us. She stares at it silently for a moment and I can _feel_ her power going into the ring. Then she picks it up and hands it to me. "There, it's enchanted to protect you from the sun."

I put it on my finger. Having sensed Bonnie actually using her power and that power going into the ring, I know she doesn't want anything _else_ to happen to me. "Alright, Judgy," Damon says coolly before I can think of a way to kick her out. "You've enchanted the ring; you've seen she's okay. Now get out before I give into my desire to do to you what you caused to happen to her. And I _won't_ be giving you blood beforehand, either."

I see the fear in Bonnie's eyes before she beats a hasty retreat. She pauses at the door. "Caroline's in the hospital," she says to me. "She, Tyler, and Matt were in a crash last night, and she was seriously injured." With that, she leaves.

I freeze. Caroline was injured? I try to recall what had happened to her after Founder's Day in the other timeline but find that I can't remember. I had been too caught up in my own heartbreak to notice _anything._ Damon senses my worry for Caroline and places a hand on my shoulder. "After you finish the transition, we'll go see her," he says, handing me a blood bag he must have fetched while Bonnie was casting her spell on my ring.

I do as I've seen Damon do when he didn't want to feed from me and tear the valve off before sticking the tube in my mouth to drain the blood bag dry. After Damon disposes of my blood bag, we head to the hospital to see if there's anything we can do for Caroline.

* * *

Sarah: and that's it for Chapter 1 of this book. I hope you enjoyed it as much as everyone seemed to enjoy _Setting Things Right._ Please review and tell me what you think.


	2. Caroline

Our Eternity Begins  
DG32173

Sarah: welcome to Chapter 2 of _Our Eternity Begins._ I'm inspired so no more talking from me. Here are the review replies and the chapter.

_**REVIEW REPLIES**_

_HoneySexy:_ yeah, Elena _had_ to stand up for herself with Bonnie. She's royally pissed at her. As for your question about Caroline, that will be answered this chapter. Enjoy.

_Leann Nickerson:_ questions about Caroline will be answered this chapter. I hope you like it. Glad you enjoyed the first chapter so much.

_amazing Aisha:_ yes, indeed. Elena's letting her inner fire burn hot and fierce. Here's the update.

_shnicky87:_ you'll see the answers to your questions as the story plays out. Your question about Caroline will be answered this chapter. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

* * *

Chapter 2  
Caroline

Damon and I rush to the hospital, taking our feet since the Camaro is still parked at The Grill where Damon had left it last night before the parade. I can _finally_ see what it's like to run at vamp speed, no longer having to close my eyes as the world moves swiftly by. My human eyes would never have made out any details at the speeds we're traveling, but my new vampire eyes see every _dust mote_ we pass with perfect clarity.

But I have no chance to simply enjoy the experience of finally know what it's like to be a vampire. Caroline's in trouble and I'm too caught up in my worry for her to enjoy such simple pleasures. We make it to the hospital within minutes of leaving the boarding house, though it's on the other side of town. I have a feeling that Damon could have arrived even faster, being an older vampire, but he was letting me have my first vamp run.

We slow down in the parking lot, making sure no one is around to see us suddenly 'appearing' out of seemingly thin air. When we get to ICU, we learn that John, surprisingly, is here as well, having had his fingers cut off last night in our kitchen, including the finger that held his eternity ring. I neither know nor care how that happened. I will deal with both him and Isobel at a later point for what they put me through. But right now I'm focused on Caroline.

When we get to her room, we find Sheriff Forbes coming out, tears of worry in her eyes. "Elena, Damon, I'm so glad you're here," she says, falling into our arms.

"I'm so sorry we couldn't arrive any sooner. We had only just found out this morning," I say softly.

"How is she?" Damon asks.

"Not good," Sheriff Forbes says, her voice filled with pain. "She's got massive internal damage. Right now she's in a drug-induced coma but the doctors don't know if she's ever going to wake up, or even make it through another night."

I exchange a brief look and an even briefer emotional conversation with Damon. He nods, giving me permission to do what I feel needs to be done. "C'mon, Liz, let's let Elena have some time with her best friend. You need a break. I'll buy you a cup of coffee in the cafeteria," he says, wrapping an arm around Sheriff Forbes' shoulder and guiding her down the hall.

I slip into Caroline's room and wince at the sight of my battered best friend. I vamp to the bed and bring my wrist to my mouth, breaking open a vein before pressing the wound to Caroline's mouth. I stroke her throat gently to encourage her to swallow the blood. I only let her have a couple of swallows before pulling away. I quickly clean the blood from her lips and then sit in the chair Sheriff Forbes' had recently vacated, holding her hand between both my own.

Within a few minutes, Damon sends me an emotional warning that he and Sheriff Forbes are on their way back. I send him the emotional equivalent of a green light, letting him know I've already completed my task.

Within minutes, they're back. I vacate my chair for Caroline's mother. She sinks into it wearily. I place a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Sheriff Forbes. I think Caroline will be okay. She's even looking better now than she did when I first came in the room," I tell her encouragingly. "She's a fighter. She'll pull through."

She examines Caroline for a moment. "You're right. She does look a little better," she admits. She clasps my hand briefly. "Thanks for giving me a break, Elena. You're a good girl." She pauses a moment. "If you haven't already, you should go see your uncle."

I keep my grimace at her words strictly internal. I can't let Sheriff Forbes know how much I despise John. "I will," I say.

Since the ICU staff have rules about only two people being with any one patient at any given time and Damon and I don't want to be separated for very long after the events of last night, we bid farewell to Sheriff Forbes and leave the room. Making my decision to deal with John _now_ rather than later when he's better able to defend himself, I sigh and turn to head deeper into the ICU, towards John's room. "You sure?" Damon asks softly, not yet realizing I've made my decision, only knowing that I'm going to 'visit' my uncle.

I nod. "I told Sheriff Forbes I would," I say just as softly. "I just didn't say what I would do to him next time I saw him."

Damon follows me down silently down the hall, not sure _yet_ what I have planned. As I walk, I keep an eye out for anything that would help me with my purpose. Thankfully, a few doors down from John's room, I spot a nurse filling a syringe with a large dose of a heart medicine. My plan falls into place when the nurse is called away and leaves the syringe behind.

Healthy hearts like John's can't handle having heart medicine given to them, particularly not such a large dose. Sure, the medical staff of the ICU may be able to revive him, but having a heart attack will leave him incredibly weakened for the rest of his life. And I may just luck out and be able to successfully kill him. I grab the syringe as we pass it, tucking it into my pocket. I sense Damon's immense approval of my plan and know he will support me in this.

We slip silently into John's room to discover he's asleep. He always was a late riser. I use my new vampire abilities to stealthily move closer to his bed, close enough to lay my hand on his shoulder. He jerks awake. Upon seeing me, he stares in terror and starts to panic. But I'm standing between him and the call button. "Look what you did to me," I snarl, vamping out. "You did this. You, Isobel, and Bonnie. None of you could let me be happy with the one who made me happiest. And because of you three, I'm now immortalized as a vampire who looks nearly identical to Katherine. All her enemies will now come after me. I warned you and Isobel that you would both pay a price if you went through with using the device. I'm sure _you_ think the price was 'losing' me to becoming a vampire. That's where you're wrong." I pull out the syringe and I see renewed terror flood his gaze. "This is the price you will both pay: _death."_

John tries to grab the syringe but his measly human body is too slow to keep up with even a newborn like me. He's too slow to prevent me from plunging the syringe into the IV and draining the entire syringe into the tube that will carry it into his bloodstream. At my cue, Damon switches places with me to make sure John can't press the call button for help. I drop the syringe in the container for disposing of used sharps.

John manages to get two words out before his heart gives out. Two words that make Damon and I realize that we _still_ won't be getting a respite from craziness: "Katherine's back."

As he has his heart attack, I go to the door leading into the hall, using my worry about Katherine and her games as a way to fake worry for John. "Help! My uncle's having a heart attack!" I call into the hall as the alarms within his heart monitor start shrieking.

Nurses and doctors rush in to save him, shoving me and Damon into the hall. But I had made sure to wait until it was too late to save him before calling for help. The doctors and nurses then try to resuscitate John but that fails, too, for whatever reason. I'm glad. Saves me from having to track him down later to kill him for the hell he has put me through.

John Gilbert is pronounced dead at 10:38am the day after Founder's Day, leaving behind just me and Jer. He hadn't even had time to change his will after my transition into a vampire. As for the way Damon and I think of it, one down, one to go.

That evening, while Damon and I are lazing about in bed, totally getting our money's worth of supposedly 'grieving' the death of my 'uncle' to skip the last party of Founder's Month, I get a call from Bonnie.

"What do you want, Bonnie? I thought I made it clear to you I'm _still_ pissed at you," I snap when I answer the phone.

"_Where are you?"_ she asks, ignoring my words and my tone.

"I'm at home with Damon. Nobody expects me to be at the party, not after my 'uncle's' sudden heart attack just today," I reply shortly. "Not that it's any of _your_ business."

Something about the worry in her voice as she says goodbye concerns me but I push it aside. "What do you suppose that was about?" Damon asks me as I burrow closer to him.

"Who cares?" I ask rhetorically. "I just want to spend the next twenty-four hours with you, pretending to grieve while really celebrating. Then we can go to the school festival tomorrow evening."

I can hear the smirk in his voice when he says, "Works for me."

The next evening

Answering my wish, Damon and I had spent the past twenty-four hours in bed together, only leaving when one of us needed to feed. We had reached an agreement to wait a few days before casting the spells Gemma had left us, give me time to adjust to being a newborn vampire without all the crazy superpowers those spells will give us.

We're now at the school festival and I'm enduring everyone's sympathies for the death of my 'uncle', none of them having the slightest clue _I_ was the reason he died. Suddenly, Damon and I spot Caroline making her way into the school building. We exchange worried glances. Sheriff Forbes said she'd be released _tomorrow._ What's she doing here _tonight?_

We follow her, intent on cornering her to find out how she snuck out of the hospital. That's when we get a very nasty surprise. Caroline reveals in no uncertain terms that she is now a vampire, made one by Katherine just to give a message to us: "Game on."

As we're overcoming this news, Caroline vamps away. I can sense Damon wants to kill her because he doesn't want to train _two_ newborns at the same time. But _he_ can sense that I won't stand for it. Caroline is still my best friend. I chose to give her my blood, creating the opening for Katherine needed to turn her. As I can sense the sire connection he and I share, giving him limited control over me while he trains me, I can also sense the sire connection I share with Caroline.

That's a bond I won't cut short. Oh, but this greatly complicates things. We can't put off using those spells for much longer, not if Katherine is going to try to play her games with us. Does Katherine know I'm now a vampire? Or is she playing these games because she thinks I'm still human?

We manage to track down Caroline again, but only after she's made her first kill by mistake, draining the life from an injured carnival worker. That's when Bonnie finds us. She stares at the blood smeared around Caroline's mouth and down her shirt and gets angry. She tries to take her anger out on Damon, mistakenly assuming it's Damon's fault Caroline's like this.

I manage to stop her, telling her in no uncertain terms that it was _my_ blood that turned Caroline, not Damon's, and that it was _Katherine_ who killed her. I also warn Bonnie against ever going after Damon again, because she's down to her last chance. If she tries to kill Damon a third time, I will take her out myself.

Damon and I manage to get Caroline to agree to come to the boarding house with us for a few days for training. The barrier that had fallen in place when I had moved in as a human had disappeared the second my heart stopped beating when I died on Founder's Day.

* * *

Sarah: as you can see, this story is gonna follow the beginning of Season 2 a little bit. Not for long, mind you, but there will be some spoilers for Season 2. So, how did everyone like it? Review and let me know what you think.


	3. Becoming a Super-Vampire

Our Eternity Begins  
DG32173

Sarah: welcome back to Chapter 3 of _Our Eternity Begins._ I'm sure everyone's curious how closely this story is going to follow Season 2. I'll tell you now: not very; just a few major scenes from the first few episodes before Katherine realizes that Elena is now a vampire and as such can't be used by Klaus for his ritual. Anyways, enough spoilers. Time for review replies and the story.

_**REVIEW REPLIES**_

_Leann Nickerson:_ glad you enjoyed the changes I made from Season 2. As for your question about the Originals showing up, well, we'll have to wait and see what my muse comes up with. Here's the next chapter.

_HoneySexy:_ glad you realized that now Elena and Caroline are a vampire family because it was Elena's blood that turned her. But you can't forget that it was _Damon's_ blood that turned Elena, so yeah, he's also part of the family. Here's the next chapter.

_amazing Aisha:_ so glad you like this. Hope you continue to enjoy what I write.

_shnicky87:_ actually, Katherine has no idea Elena's a vampire. She's doing these things because she thinks Elena is still human and she can use her to barter with the Originals. That's all the spoilers I'm giving. Here's the next chapter.

* * *

Chapter 3  
Becoming a Super-Vampire

Starting the morning following our discovering what Katherine had done to Caroline, Damon starts training me and Caroline while Stefan tries to talk Bonnie around to making Caroline a daylight ring. He had already started some stuff with me in the months leading up to Founder's Day, as Katherine had with him. Caroline had called her mom last night when we got to the boarding house and told her that she would be spending a few days with me 'to help me overcome my grief over my uncle's death', as was her excuse.

Because Damon had already been training me even before my transition, I help explain things to Caroline in a way she can understand rather than Damon's strictly to-the-point instructions. Damon's surprised at how quickly Caroline and I manage to catch on to the ways of our new lives as vampires. One thing that perked both me and Caroline up tremendously was gaining the knowledge that we can now drink as much alcohol as we want without suffering the consequences a human would.

Finally, as the first afternoon starts drawing to a close, Stefan shows up with Bonnie. What had he said to her that got her to agree so quickly to make Caroline a daylight ring? I doubt I'll ever find out.

It isn't long before Caroline has her ring and Damon and I've kicked Bonnie out because we're both still pissed at her over what her actions allowed to happen Founder's Day. Making Caroline's ring earned her _some_ brownie points with me, but Bonnie still has a long way to go to regain my friendship. I know Damon will never make the mistake of trusting Bonnie again but I think she has finally learned not to betray me.

As it is, it still takes several days before my training is complete and then Damon and I tag-team Caroline for three more days before he deems her ready to face the world at large.

It's only when Caroline's training is complete and she's gone back to her mom's that Damon and I agree we can't procrastinate any longer before using the spells Gemma left us on each other. We can both sense a storm brewing on the horizon and know instinctively that if we are to survive relatively unscathed, we _have_ to have the powers those spells will give us.

Damon and I are now in our room with the journal Damon had transferred Gemma's messages to us into. I watch him as he locates the message that includes the spell. It doesn't take long. I can see that whatever spell had been blocking the spells I am to use on him had gone away, though I sense that I will need whatever power is granted to me by the spells he is to cast on me first before I can cast them.

Damon looks into my eyes. "Are you sure you're ready?" he asks me. "She said there'll be side-effects when I cast these spells on you."

I nod, determination filling me to the brim. "Let's get it over with," I say. "We can't keep postponing it."

Damon sighs and begins to cast the first spell. I can feel his incredible Power swirling around us as he casts it. Suddenly, as soon as he finishes it, I collapse while crying out in pain as it feels like every my body is being remade, cell-by-cell. A million confusing images buffet my brain, nearly driving me mad. Sensations I have never experienced become a part of me as my memories of my entire existence is rewritten to include new, unidentifiable senses that the spell grants me.

"Elena!" Damon cries, dropping the journal.

"Keep going!" I manage to get out around the overload on my brain and body. "Don't stop!"

Thanks to our jewelry, I sense his strong desire to argue with me but he knows it's futile. He knows as well as I do that he _has_ to finish casting the other two spells. The second spell causes sparks of ice blue electricity to roll over my body and blindingly bright orbs of light tinted ice blue to appear around us. I can tell by the drain on my Power that I'm causing these effects, though I don't yet know how I'm doing it nor how to stop it. Both the orbs of light and the electricity are a match in color for Damon's beautiful eyes. I can feel my Power grow so tremendously and rapidly that it's a wonder my body isn't torn to shreds by it.

As soon as Damon casts the third spell, I find my brain flooded with so much new knowledge that I can barely contain it. Knowledge of how to use my new powers and the powers _Damon_ will be granted as well. And even knowledge of other things, things that make me cringe to think about for long. The pain my body had been in since the first spell slowly subsides and I use my newfound knowledge to stop the powers I was using instinctively. I lay on our bed, gasping like I was a human who had run a marathon they had never prepared for. And I _feel_ like that hypothetical human as well. For the first time since I became a vampire, I am completely and utterly worn out.

Damon gathers me in his arms, holding me close. Finally, I manage to catch my breath again. "I understand now," I whisper. I sense Damon's confusion.

"Understand _what?"_ he demands.

I know he would never get it, not until I cast the spells I must cast on him. "You'll understand, too, as soon as I've recovered enough to cast the spells I need to cast on you," I say, knowing I sound mysterious to him.

"How can you even _cast_ those spells? The ones I had to cast used a great deal of my Power and I've been building it up since the day I was turned," he protests. "You're only a newborn. You don't have that kind of Power available to you."

"The spells change us, Damon," I say by way of explanation. "It changes us from mere vampires into something _more._ I've now got more Power in just my pinky than any normal vampire _ever_ will no matter _how_ long they live."

This confuses him greatly until I decide to let out a tiny sliver of my new Power for him to sense. That 'tiny sliver' of Power is more than enough to destroy an entire continent if I so wanted to. And that's hardly a drop in my incredible Power now. Damon gasps in shock, his horror as the reality of how powerful I am now radiating at me powerfully through our jewelry.

I agree, in a way, that he has a right to be horrified. No being in existence should ever have been allowed to be granted _this_ much power. Only the Seer is stronger than Damon and I would be combined once I cast the spells upon him. And _She_ is bound tightly by the rules of Fate forced upon Her. _We_ are not.

Now we finally both understand why Damon was warned by Gemma to never turn off his humanity again once we gain these powers. The monster he had been at the start of the school year could never be trusted with such strength at his disposal. And as the older vampire in our mating bond, he's the leader. Whatever he does or doesn't do, I will follow only too willingly.

I recover from the ordeal of gaining all this power and knowledge slowly, taking several hours and multiple blood bags to overcome the shock my system had suffered. Finally, shortly after midnight, I turn to Damon. "It's time," I say. I can sense the immediate and complete rebellion of everything within him against going through what I had. I kiss him tenderly on the lips. "It's okay, Damon. Everything will be fine. I know it will," I assure him.

He takes a steadying breath and hands me the journal, opened to the page with the spells I will need to cast on him. "Go ahead," he says through grit teeth as he braces himself.

As soon as I complete the first spell, he collapses in pain with his own cry of agony. Everything in me demands that I go to him, ease his suffering somehow. But I know the only way to do that will be to complete the other two spells. So unlike Damon, I push aside the instinct to tend to my mate and continue reciting the next spell. I can comfort him afterwards the third one is complete.

The electricity and orbs of blinding light he instinctively lets off after the completion of the second spell are tinted brown, the same shade of brown as my eyes. I wonder at that but press forward. At last, I complete the third and final spell I am to cast upon him, knowing instinctively this spell will grant him the same knowledge and easing of suffering I was granted.

As Damon returns to his senses, I pull him into my arms and whisper soothing nonsense to him. He lays in my embrace a while, gasping for air he doesn't really need.

Suddenly, I hear his thoughts, as the telepathic powers we were 'graced' with kick in. I hear him put a label on what we have become: super vampires. "I agree," I whisper in his ear, letting him know I can hear his thoughts. "We will have to be very careful from here on. We now have the power to destroy _everything_ if we're don't."

We both would have to concentrate to _block_ each other from our thoughts now. I don't bother concentrating to block him out, letting him hear my inner worries about how dreadfully powerful we are now.

'_We must have been the imperial king and queen that Gemma so revered in her time,'_ I think at him.

He agrees. I discover by his thoughts that he had suspected so since we first read Gemma's messages to us and now he's just as sure as I am that it's true. "Gemma said that our powers won't even reach full strength until after we've had them several decades," he says as the memory comes upon him suddenly.

Fear tightens my throat as horror descends upon me at that realization. Damon feels my horror and fear and agrees with it. If we're this powerful _now,_ how much _more_ powerful will we be before the century is out? We both dread the answer with equal force.

* * *

Sarah: I know you've all been wondering since the chapter in the last books with Gemma's messages to them what sort of powers they will gain from those spells. Now you know just the _tip_ of the iceberg. More powers will appear over the course of this book and the next. Review and tell me what you think.


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